News Sustainable Biz Drawn and Ready: Trans-Matic joint venture HTTM poised to supply battery cell containers worldwide
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By Joe Boomgaard | MiBiz
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As the general manager of HTTM, Jeff Lauinger pursues global business in the advanced lithium-ion battery industry. The new joint venture draws on the experience of Trans-Matic in deep-draw stamping and Heitkam & Thumann Group in consumer batteries to bring a broad range of experience to the market. PHOTO: JOE BOOMGAARD |
HOLLAND — Batteries are a ubiquitous part of everyday life, but what most people probably fail to realize is the amount of technology and intellectual property that goes into the production of each unit. That’s as true of the traditional D-cell batteries for a flashlight as it is of the new lithium-ion cells destined for electric vehicles.
One West Michigan-based metal-forming company has teamed up with a leading producer of conventional consumer batteries to form a new joint venture aimed at leveraging their combined capabilities to become a key global supplier for the lithium-ion battery industry.
Earlier this year, Holland-based Trans-Matic Manufacturing Company Inc. announced it was forming a joint venture with Dusseldorf, Germany-based Heitkam & Thumann Group. The new business, HTTM LLC, is based inside Trans-Matic’s Holland headquarters and focuses specifically on producing metal containers for lithium-ion battery cells.
“H&T is the largest producer of battery shells in the word. They’re experts in (consumer batteries) — that’s most of their business,” Jeff Lauinger, general manager of HTTM, told MiBiz in an exclusive interview. “What we’re good at is doing deep draw on bigger parts. It made business sense because of our good relationship with them to combine the expertise of the two. They brought the battery expertise; we brought the deep-draw expertise.”
Trans-Matic specializes in deep-draw metal stamping, a process that allows parts to be stamped into shape more cost effectively than if they had to be machined. In essence, coils of metal are cut and stamped — through a series of different steps — into elongated products. Each step adds different features along the way.
With many lithium-ion battery cells, that means stamping aluminum or stainless steel into what looks like a super-sized AA battery. The actual battery materials are placed into the canister and then a stamped cap of the same material is laser welded into place. The canisters have built-in safety features engineered by HTTM to ensure proper pressure release.
In 2007, Trans-Matic and Johnson Controls Inc. began co-developing the design of the lithium-ion battery that’s currently being produced by the new Johnson Controls-Saft battery plant about a mile down the road from Trans-Matic in Holland — the plant President Obama toured in mid-August on his second visit to the community in 13 months.
“The development process is interesting. They did not just plop it down and say, ‘Make this.’ Design for manufacturability is important. We worked with them hand-in-glove on what features we could add to the can and what physical features the can could have to produce it at high volume. It was absolutely a collaborative effort,” Lauinger said.
HTTM continues to support JCS through its prototype stage as it approaches beginning full production in Holland. The work with JCS means about 20 jobs at HTTM, although that number is likely to increase as production ramps up.
“We’re just getting off the ground,” Lauinger said.
In April 2010, Trans-Matic was awarded nearly $4.8 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for new manufacturing equipment, including a 300-ton press and a components washing machine that will be dedicated to making new battery components.
HTTM has reached out to most of the global advanced battery manufacturers. In particular, Lauinger said the company plans to leverage the global footprint of both Trans-Matic and H&T to serve customers near their locations. The two companies span North America, Europe and Asia. Initially, at least, most production will be in the United States.
“We’ve been in very close contact with the different battery manufacturers all over the world … to make sure they understand our development work over the last few years in being at the forefront of designing these canisters,” he said.
Lauinger, a mechanical engineer by training, joined HTTM in May after an extensive career in the automotive industry. For the last five years, he worked for Oracle to design and sell manufacturing systems software.
“I was more a manufacturing and operations person than I was into software, and I wanted to get back in that side of the business. I’m impressed with Trans-Matic and what the team has done so far,” Lauinger said. “My job is to grow the business as quickly as we possibly can. We’re in the growing phase right now and working with prospective customers so they really understand the value we can provide in these canisters.
“You can look at these and say it’s a simple product. To the layperson, it is. But get in front of anyone that knows batteries, and they know it’s a special product. There’s a lot of knowhow and intellectual property that we pour into every one of those.”
More than automotive
Because the advanced batteries industry is relatively young, most of the targets for HTTM are for new business, but the company sees some opportunity in wooing existing manufacturers that use plastic for the canister. “We feel there are some strong, inherent advantages to using aluminum or stainless because of its durability, toughness, heat dissipation and resistance to thermal events or fires,” he said.
The company also sees promise as hybrid vehicle manufacturers — which typically use nickel metal hydride batteries — make the switch to lithium-ion.
While the automotive applications of lithium-ion batteries have garnered much of the attention lately, there are numerous other applications for the technology. Lauinger said HTTM plans to concentrate on both the automotive and stationary power industries.
Stationary power is a growing concern as more renewable energy comes online and companies look for ways to store energy from wind or solar sources and use it when demand is greatest. Moreover, stationary power storage could provide backup power for large-scale users like the telecommunications industry and the military.
Bruce Adair, director of business services at Lakeshore Advantage, said some estimates peg the stationary power industry at potentially five to seven times the size of the auto market. “That’s significant,” he said.
“Automotive is an important chunk of it, but it’s hard to know now what it will be, volume-wise,” Lauinger said. “We want (electric vehicles) to take off. Look at the investments being made. There’s a critical mass around electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles. The technology is driving more efficiency from these power cells. I’m convinced that eventually, these will represent large volumes in terms of vehicle sales. But will it take a while? Sure.”
Lauinger said some energy companies are looking to do entire turnkey operations from production to storage, while others are working just at integrating batteries into a storage solution. HTTM aims to do business with all of them.
Feeding the chain
Lakeshore Advantage is working to help grow the battery industry supply chain in West Michigan. To date, the organization knows of nine companies already working in the supply chain.
“There are a lot of things in motion right now to build out the supply chain,” Adair said.
The economic development organization has deployed a two-pronged approach in growing the supply chain by attracting new businesses to the region — an undisclosed international manufacturer is believed to be close to announcing new operations in the Holland/Zeeland area — and by helping existing companies find opportunities in the industry through the Advanced Energy Storage Network, a user-group for companies serving or wanting to serve the battery companies.
The AES Network recently took a trip to talk with scientists and other specialists at the Argonne National Laboratory about technology commercialization and educational opportunities. Adair said he hopes to create a pathway for local colleges and universities to supply Argonne with interns. Argonne and the network also discussed starting “scholars in residence” opportunities at local companies.
Moreover, the AES Network is working closely with the local education community to ensure the proper groundwork is being laid so that the battery companies and their local suppliers have a strong talent pipeline for years to come. The manufacturing plants of today and the future are hallmarks of advanced technology and require technically skilled workers.
Take the work being done at HTTM, Lauinger said. While stamping has been around for a long time, various technological advances have driven new opportunities — batteries being but one example.
“What’s new and great is that the technology has been used to develop a process to get more and more features into it,” he said.
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